Perceived organizational status and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: mediating role of psychological empowerment and moderating role of organizational error tolerance

Change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO-OCB) is essential for organizational adaptation in dynamic environments. This study investigated whether perceived organizational status promotes CO-OCB and whether psychological empowerment mediates this relationship. We conducted two vignette-based experiments with full-time employees in China (Study 1: N = 216; Study 2: N = 372) recruited from multiple industries and provinces through a professional data-collection platform, followed by a large-scale nationwide employee survey (Study 3: N = 1,017). Across the three studies, perceived organizational status significantly increased employees'CO-OCB, and psychological empowerment consistently mediated this effect. Organizational error tolerance strengthened the effect of perceived organizational status on psychological empowerment, and the moderated mediation was supported in Study 3. These findings extend understanding of how status perceptions shape change-oriented behavior among employees and offer actionable insights for fostering psychologically empowered workforces in supportive organizational climates.